The End and The Beginning

Well, medical school is finally here. Monday morning Trevor will be thrown into a whole new adventure. The past few weeks have been so exciting. Trevor met up with some students from school and soon after I met a group of them as well. We have gone out plenty of times and have spent a lot of time on the beach. He will be surrounded by a great group of people. It's sort of sad when you think about it from my perspective. I met some awesome girls and it has been so nice to have some girl time/conversations, however, they will be just as unavailable as Trevor will be. :( On a brighter note, I start new teacher training tomorrow and will hopefully meet some new teachers at my own school.

I should have access to my classroom this coming Friday! I can hardly stand it any longer. My mom has been gathering up some things for me from her teaching days so I am so excited to receive anything she has. Trevor's mom sent me a huge box of really cute teacher things, like stickers and calendars and stamps! She also knows a second grade teacher who just moved to another grade so the lady just gave Carolyn all of her old stuff to give to me. I should be expecting about 5 boxes of goodies for my room!! I get a small budget from the school but now that I will have all of these things from my mom and Carolyn, I should be pretty much set up for life. :) I have decided to do an underwater theme for my room. I will have a lot of work to do creating all of my room ideas but that's what I think excites me most about getting started.

I was also accepted into a program at FAU for my teaching classes. The great thing about this program is that grants pay for all of your schooling. Considering I am not considered a Florida resident, this schooling would have cost me an arm and a leg and I need those to teach! I will be at school from 8-5 on Saturdays, so basically I will be working 6 days of week but by the end of this school year I will have obtained my professional teaching certification. Pretty nice!

Even better, my school is uniformed even for teachers so basically I have about four shirts I can switch off from and any cute pants I want. Even better, no more heels! Only when I WANT to.

I miss my family very much and have been very nostalgic for Dallas lately. There's just small things here that make me miss home. I am sure once I am working it will get easier. Friday, Trevor's family flies in for the white coat ceremony. His Mom, Dad, Omi and Opi will be here. Trevor can hardly wait and it's about time we see them! We have missed them very much! Now if only they could kidnap my baby niece so that I can hold her...I may not give her back if that were to happen.

Anyways, our first year of marriage is coming to an end but medical school and teaching are just beginning. We have so much to be thankful for. God bless you and your families too. I will have plenty to update you on after the first week of school for both of us! Take care!

New beginnings intertwined with family

This weekend was without a doubt, a family-studded good luck weekend. Mom and Mason flew in on Thursday to stay with us for the weekend. It was so refreshing to see familiar faces in my home. I think they brought some fairy dust with them because a slew of wonderful things happened upon their arrival. For starters, my sweet niece Liliana came into the world on that very same day. She is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to hold her. Hopefully we will get to Skype the family tomorrow to see her. I guess I will just have to be Cyber Aunt until Thanksgiving. As far as I know, Alisha is doing well and probably very happy to see that her baby is healthy and finally out of her tummy.

My day was especially memorable as well because I got a phone call that will change my life. I cannot go into detail until next week, but most of you know I am sure. If you are curious enough just text me. I finally feel like there is something for me here in Florida. Such wonderful things are happening to my Trevor and selfishly enough, I wanted a piece of the joy as well. All of my prayers were answered and God has awesome things in store for me. I feel like I have even more reassurance as to why God lead us here. It's okay to be happy for myself, right? :)

We spent some great days out at the beach, mixed with our Floridian hit-or-miss weather but all in all it was pretty dry here. Duke received more love than ever and is probably a bit too spoiled now, I guess that's what grandmas are for.

We ate some awesome food while they were here as well. There was a little spot on the bay where giant tarpon fish swarm around the docs. I swear I thought they were sharks! The food was great and I have a few pics I will upload later. Last night was yet another culinary adventure in my kitchen, as usual. We all know I have some ups and downs but the product was insanely delicious. We made halibut with a peach and pepper salsa that was out of this world. I need to post the recipe because it is so fresh and has so many different flavors that I must share it with the world.

I was sad to see my family leave today. I feel like it went by way too fast, but so many good things happened while they were here that made it perfect timing for their trip. Unfortunately, I won't be seeing them again until Christmas... too long from now. We are lucky, however, that Trevor's family will be coming to visit in three weeks for his white coat ceremony. The adventure continues in Florida and I am glad you are all along for the ride. More to come as usual, God Bless!

Good things to come

It has been awhile since the last entry but some crazy new things have been coming my way. I cannot go on the record yet but I feel like God has a plan for me. All I can do is follow Him and hopefully I will end up in the best place possible for myself. I have another big week so hopefully something great will present itself. I can assure you, anyone who reads this blog will know shortly what I have been up to lately.

Good things are happening to a lot of people in my life actually. Kelly just found out she is having another sweet little boy, Jackie is pregnant with her first baby, Lexie is a happy newly wed, Kerry and Logan are in the process of buying their first home and Kerry has just landed a 3rd grade teaching position. I am about to be an aunt ANY day now since Alisha is about to pop and hopefully some new doors will be opening for my Meggy in the boy department. :) And to top it all off, my parents will be celebrating 19 years of marriage tomorrow.

My mom and my brother are flying in on Thursday! I am so excited that the timing all worked out because seeing some familiar faces will be so refreshing. We have lots of yummy seafood recipes planned and plenty of beach time to fit in. I am praying that the weather stays like it has been this past week so we can show off our new home. Mom and Dad have been here before but I think it's a bit different when you're hangin' with locals. :)

I can't wait to blog next week about their trip with us. I will definitely post some pics! Take care all and thanks for reading.

Renewed

As I am sure most people in my life know, we finally received our furniture. It has been a long and grueling process so the victory was sweet. Only minor things were broken but it's all here and accounted for. It's actually driving me nuts to be sitting here at my desk wishing I could be unpacking the things I waited so long for. However, can't complain too much, the office closes at 2pm today and we have no work on Monday! Can I get an amen?!

My greatest joy is having my kitchen back. Cooking has become extremely therapeutic for me so I have certainly missed whipping up some yummy goodness from the plethora of recipes I have collected over time. With the incredible and endless supply of seafood in Florida, I have a few things to learn. I basically steered clear of seafood in Dallas. When you have no idea of Mr. Fishy's origins, it doesn't make him look too appetizing. In Florida, when you go to the store the colors of the food are so vibrant, it's like nothing I have ever seen before. The fish is red, pink and soft white. The produce is bold and the flowers are never wilting. I am excited to embark on my new food adventures and will definitely keep you updated on that matter, Julie and Julia style!

Only a month until Trevor starts medical school. His white coat has been ordered and his school ID is ready to be swiped. (And he would probably be mortified if he read that last sentence.) After all, that is the reason why we are here so it's nice to see our journey in the near future. He's getting a bit ancy but we still have one last month to enjoy together before the madness. :)

For now, I wish you all an amazing holiday weekend. Be safe!

Our first week

This week has been full of it's ups and downs. Drove in Sunday and had some apartment problems but after some simple arguing, we have finally been placed in an apartment we can stand. I hate to say it but even though we like it, we will be moving again when the lease is up. It is overpriced and we now know (a little too late) that the farther you move outside of the school area the cheaper/better places to live get. What can I say, we live and learn and this place will serve us well as we make the biggest transition of our lives. I started work the day after we got in to Florida so it has been hard to wrap my mind around much these days. I still feel like my head is spinning wildly out of control but can take solice in the fact that life WILL slow down. We also found out that our moving company has lied to us multiple times and is holding our furniture hostage and asking for more money in order to receive our things quicker. Needless to say, the battle continues and we are on day four of living without our belongings. My husband is the greatest because he has tried so hard to make me feel comfortable here by just being himself and understanding my stress level and always talking me through my venting periods, which have happened a lot this week. Monday night we dined on the beach at an awesome spot called Aruba. It is literally a step away from the sand, so two mojitos and a burger later, we kicked off our shoes and sat on the beach. It was a wonderful reminder of where we are in this world and that getting away for a bit is just a beach away. Last night was by far our best night here. We grabbed a bottle of wine, a frozen pizza and a small TV from Costco and settled in on our bedroom floor with a DVD of Scrubs that we found inside of the PS3. As we toasted to life, love and our new home in South Florida, we both know that whatever comes our way, we have each other (and of course Duke). This little family of three will make it through the rough patches and as we go on, we will grow and blossom here.

"Bloom where you are planted." Mary Engelbreit

4 days out

It's our last Sunday in Dallas and it's gloomier than ever. But we have fulfilled all aspects to our Dallas Bucket list in the past few months regardless of the weather. We started out with Six Flags. We grabbed the baby brother and had a fun day riding coasters and eating the questionably expensive food. A Dallas pastime usually includes dinner at the top of reunion tower as well. It has been redone within the last few years and it looks amazing. Trevor and I decided to have a glass of wine overlooking the Dallas skyline as the whole building slowly rotated to show us the sunset. It was breathtaking and romantic and worth every penny. After traveling to Fort Lauderdale for the first time, we realized that Floridians have no idea what Tex-Mex means. Trevor and I will grace them with the knowledge of what REAL Tex-Mex is, slowly but surely. With that said, we went on a Tex-Mex binge around Dallas. We stuffed our faces multiple times at Taco Diner, one of our favorites. Trevor and I became avid fans of this place since living in Las Colinas. We celebrated my 24th birthday at Mi Cocina and needless to say, drank too many margaritas and we believed to have had our fill of Tex-Mex to cure any craving for quite some time. Yesterday was our last Bucket List adventure. First we grabbed Eatzi's for lunch. (An excellent bakery and eatery in the heart of Uptown with sandwiches and salads made to order.) Had our first taste of Pellegrino and headed out to the Dallas Arboretum. Even though we slow roasted to the internal temperature of a Thanksgiving turkey, it was truly magical. The blooms were so colorful and lunch under a tree was the icing on the cake. We went home last night and bought a glass of wine to take down to the canal. We sat out on the lake and watched the sun go down. Ahhh...We will definitely miss the beauties of Dallas, but through our adventures we have realized that even though we are leaving all the things we love behind, that we are also going to find new and wonderful things to love in Florida. Our real adventure begins in 4 days when we leave Dallas and head south to visit family along the way to Fort Lauderdale. Dallas will always have a piece of me and I can expect to become homesick probably as soon as we get there, but look forward to what's ahead for us. My husband has made a huge commitment to save lives and I will try to save his by being there for him whenever he needs me as he travels through his journey. For now, I leave you in Dallas but the next time I post I will be in Fort Lauderdale.